OK, listen up, readers. This is the second last chapter of this fanfic. We won't be continuing June and July and Landyn's story after this fanfic ends (which is in the next chapter). This chapter covers a pretty long time span, so it might be a little confusing, but the timeline is totally based on the timeline in the Mark of Athena. However, there is a little spot that's not as the original story went—in the MoA, Annabeth encountered Reyna in Charlestown, but in this fanfic, we wrote Reyna went to New York. So no Reyna in Charlestown.

So that's all I have to say. Please enjoy :)

-Amber-

Chapter 16 June

It turned out that the reason why Dakota called us back to assembly, forcing me to part with that beautiful black pegasus (which I strongly suspected belonged to Percy), was for dinner. I hadn't realized time had passed so fast—I had stayed with the pegasus for too long. According to reports, most of the single scouts had taken on a possible scent track heading towards Atlanta. When Octavian demanded why I didn't find that track like everyone else, I had to say I fell off the eagle and passed out for some time, which made Susan and Dakota and all the others start anxiously check if I was ok immediately. Anyway, on the general, nothing went much wrong and after a quick meal, we followed the scent track towards Atlanta steadily into the night before Octavian finally permitted rest.

The next morning, I managed to talk Dakota out of putting me back in the chariot, with the help of a supportive Susan who shuddered at the thought of being back in her original position as a single scout.

We must have been gaining on the Greeks, as all of the eagles sped towards Atlanta without any hesitation. I was grateful that because the scent was strong, Copper didn't need to swoop down for confirmation at all—having slept for less than 4 hours the night before, I was so tired I could barely keep myself on Copper. Almost noon, we arrived. As the city was more thickly populated than the wheat fields of Kansas, and had many more elements that clouded the eagles senses so we couldn't be certain where exactly the Greeks were. With no other way, we split up to scout the city.

Soaring in the air, I had the perfect view of the stunning city of Atlanta. I was squinting in the sun trying to spot some famous sightseeing sites(I figured we were somewhere above the Carter Center when Copper suddenly screeched and turned direction.

"Whoa!" I cried as I was swung around in the air. Copper was zooming in towards a large building until we were so close that I could see the signs: Georgia Aquarium.

The Aquarium? Why did Copper take me here? There's no way such a huge warship like ArgoⅡ could fit in the building, as large as it was. But as Copper circulated around the aquarium, I noticed something was wrong. Alarms blared in the building. Floods of people poured out of the exit, kids screaming and adults yelling. There was water leaking out of the exit. This was definitely the doings of demigods. I was almost sure that I would find a member of the ArgoⅡ crew. I scanned the wild crowds as best as I could for familiar faces.

I was about to tell Copper to let me down for a closer look when suddenly the exit exploded. Copper swerved to avoid the rubble but I squeezed my eyes shut instinctively. When I opened them, I thought I was seeing things.

"I've been too high up in the air for too long—a lack of oxygen may lead to hallucinations…"I muttered, staring at the twin sea serpents that had popped out of the wrecked aquarium exit, bright glowing blue scales and jaws flashing in the sun. A girl with black pigtails that looked in her late 20s and also very not human ran between the serpents, fuming and shouting: "Son of Poseidon! Where have you gone hiding? Even if I was a monster nerd, there's absolutely no reason to kick me in the head!"

If Percy had chosen to run away rather than face the two sea serpents and the girl, I'd better follow suit. I whistled as quietly as I could to tell Copper to take me away. Either I was way too unlucky or the serpents had super hearing, they turned and their green eyes zoomed in on me. They hissed in harmony and started slithering towards me, their enormous head following Copper's moves in the air. I groaned. Missing Percy was one thing, but getting chased by thirty-feet monster serpents that were supposed to be chasing after him was another.

"What is it, babies?" The girl spotted me. "Ah! Demigod on an eagle! Is she friends with Percy Jackson?"

I checked my weapons: a gladius which I didn't really know how to use properly, a dagger—too small, Landyn's gun—with no bullets and my golden pin. Not exactly sufficient against my enemies. "Fly, Copper." I decided. I wasn't going to idle and entertain twin sea serpents and a pig-tailed girl. Copper obviously agreed with me. He flapped his great wings and shot away from the wreck of an aquarium Percy caused.

The girl screamed in irritation: "Why fly away? Keto can give you a VIP tour of 'Death in the Deep Seas'!"

The serpents tried to get to us but Copper was much faster. In a few minutes, we were well out of seeing range of the aquarium. I let out a breath—I was not in a state or mood to fight monsters. Copper kept on flying until we left the city and the landscape beneath was more wide open and sparsely populated. After a while, I spotted Dakota's chariot ahead of us. Someone in chariot saw me too and waved, beckoning me to come closer. I gulped, hoping it wasn't Octavian calling me to convict me of treason at last. When I got as close as I could get with the chariot, I asked: "What's up?"

Octavian, with his signature sneer, yelled to be heard over the wind: "You missed lunch period by two hours!"

I blinked. Lunch period. In the chaos of the aquarium, I had totally forgotten about eating. I guess with the Greeks 'supposedly' so close at hand, Copper had chosen to keep on the tracking instead of heeding Dakota's signals.

"Where have you been?" Octavian demanded, "Were you secretly meeting up with the Graecus again?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, Octavian. I was just scouting. I thought I had one, but then I got attacked by sea serpents from the aquarium. There were two and a girl called Keto…"

"Keto?" Howard asked, leaning out of the chariot so I could hear him more clearly, "Isn't that a sea goddess, mother of many monsters? Wow."

I shrugged, "Must be." The more dangerous they think my encounter was, they more will they understand why I failed to answer Dakota's call for lunch.

"Did you get hurt?" Dakota asked, trying to survey me. Susan, Bob and even Rick all peered over the chariot at me worriedly.

I was moved. Smiling, I reassured: "It's OK, I'm fine. Copper was a great partner."

Susan threw me a packet of crackers to make up for my missed lunch and Dakota explained to me that the eagles had picked up two different scent tracks, and now Cohort Five have been divided into two groups, one for each track. Dakota's chariot was following the thinner trail, and so was I supposed to be.

To show that I was sorry for my delay, I nodded obedient and told Copper to speed off ahead on the trail. For the rest of the day, Copper took me further and further west. With no excitement at all, night fell and we who followed the thinner trail gathered for dinner and continued on the chase all night with only two hours of sleep permitted—Octavian insisted that we must accelerate and gain on ArgoⅡ before it was too late. Dakota said that the Greeks were getting closer and closer to the west coast and once they fly out to the Atlantic Ocean, there would be no more need to pursue, as they would have marked themselves as outlaws and would then be in the mercy of Mare Nostrum (it even sounded evil). If that happened, our dear augur would be very disappointed to have lost a chance to revenge on the Graecus.

The next day, we kept heading towards the west coast. By the time the bright summer sun was high in the sky, I could see the glittering sea along the horizon. My purple shirt was sticking to my back with sweat and my jeans were worn and dirty, but I couldn't care less. We were approaching the seaside, and also the Greeks. Copper was alert and excited, apparently eager to meet his prey as soon as possible. The eagles pulling Dakota's chariot must have been given extra fuel as they did a pretty good job surpassing some of the slower single scouts and joining the faster ones, like me (praise goes to Copper, who is an amazing flyer).

Then, we spotted ArgoⅡin the distance. The gleaming bronze warship was harbored in a dock along the coastline of Charlestown.

"The Graecus!" Octavian was so excited his voice became rather like the sound of broken bagpipes. "Finally! Make sure none of them gets off!" He had forced a single scout to trade positions with him so now we had a scarecrow dangling in the claws of an eagle. Oh by the way, he was kneading wax ear plugs so he could fight the 'evil siren' of the Greeks (a.k.a. Piper McLean)

Dakota ignored him and gave us last instructions: "Try to locate all the targets and capture them one by one—once united, they would be a lot harder to overpower. They should be mostly on land now. Act before they take cover in the ship. And most importantly, heed my signals!" He looked at me sternly at the last tip.

I nodded solemnly and then the eagles dove down in several directions. I was secretly glad Copper chose to head down towards Fort Sumter together with Dakota's chariot while Octavian's eagle shot towards the harbor.

It appeared that Percy wasn't among the demigods in Fort Sumter. I reached the fort earlier than the chariot. When Copper screeched as he flew right above the Jason, Leo and Frank, the three boys immediately went on the run. With fellow Romans closing in quickly, I couldn't think of what to do except just chase after the targets. Copper dipped so low to the ground when he gained on the escaping boys, I could see Leo's flabbergasted face as he recognized me.

"Hurry! The other Romans are right behind!" I yelled, urging them on.

Jason looked back at me in bewilderment: "Are you trying to help us?"

"I knew you were a good guy!" Leo gave me a bright smile.

But I had no time for jokes: "I may want to help you, but Copper, I mean my eagle, don't! Can't you be faster? You, the Asian one, they say you can shift shape. Change into something faster and take them with you!"

The Asian looked annoyed that I was ordering him around, but he still started to change. I looked up—Dakota's chariot was already in proximity. There wasn't enough time. Copper screeched and suddenly shot up. Turning back quickly, I found that the guys were no longer on the ground. A bald eagle, Frank, was carrying Leo and Jason towards the docks. Indeed they were faster, but the load seemed too much for Frank and…it was too late. The chariot descended from the high air and headed straight towards them. Susan and Rick were firing arrow after arrow at them while Dakota brandished his gladius.

"No!" I shouted out. I was so focused on them that I didn't notice a flaming spear being shot from the ship straight at the chariot. It exploded around the eagles and drew them into frenzy. I watched in horror as Frank spiral out of control, being singed by the flames, and lost grip of Leo. Whoever that fired the spear must be the stupidest person in the world. The panicked eagles sent the chariot slamming straight into Jason. All around me, people were falling from the sky, both Greek and Roman. Despair caught me so that I couldn't think clearly. But luckily, the eagles of single scouts had arrived and got busy catching falling Romans on their backs right away. Unluckily, they pad no attention to falling Greeks/Traitors. As Copper flew to catch Bobby who fell out of the chariot, I found Jason coming my way, trying his best to support a flailing Leo dizzily. Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed Jason's shirt. I only wanted to save them from falling to their death, but I overestimated Copper's strength—four demigods all equipped with weapons was no small load. Flapping and screeching desperately Copper could only manage to slow our fall. Bobby, Jason and Leo all tumbled to the ground as soon as Copper got low enough. I undid my vest straps and dropped to the ground as well. I couldn't blame Copper as he abandoned me after buffeting his wings at me angrily—I was a terrible partner.

I ran to the boys' side immediately. "Is everybody all right?"

Jason and Leo were up and about soon enough but Bobby was another case. He had fallen on a piece of rubble, and his right leg was bleeding badly. He winced as I knelt down next to him and cut off the piece of cloth around the wound. I blinked back tears, though I knew getting hurt was almost inevitable in a battle. "Stay still. I'll fix it up." I ordered Bob and he tried to get up.

Bobby protested. "But you should be going with Jason! He'll take you to the Greeks and then you can find a way to go to Camp Half-blood! I'll be fine here. Dakota will come get me soon."

I looked at the other guys. They were looking around nervously—not without reason since some Roman were bound to find us soon. But they were waiting for me.

Leo asked: "Sun girl, what's Carrot Boy talking about? About going to Camp Half-blood?"

I made up my mind. "No time to explain. I'll stay here. You'd better get running. Romans are fast." With a few hesitating glances at me, Jason and Leo were off. Not a moment too late. Dakota and all the others came racing after them almost instantly. They were so intent on their task they didn't notice Bobby and me.

"What are you doing? I'll be fine! You should hurry!" Bobby kept on pestering me but I didn't reply. There was nothing to say. My friend was hurt and it was only natural for me to heal him. Taking advantage of the period of no disturbance, I quickly went to work with Bobby's wound, pouring nectar on it and bandaging it up.

When I was finally done I stood up and took a few steps back. Bobby asked: "Are you leaving now? I mean, for good?"

I nodded. As much as I didn't want to leave my new friends in Cohort Five, I knew there won't be a chance like this anymore. Even if I couldn't get help from the crew of ArgoⅡ, I could at least be free of pretending and lying and feeling insecure all the time.

"Thanks for everything, Bobby. We'll meet again." Then I ran off.

As soon as I ran into the battle areas, I saw how serious things had become. Eagles and demigods were fighting everywhere. Susan, Howard and Rick were all trying to chase Leo, who was nimbly ducking from portico to portico, blasting fire in his pursuers' faces'. Jason was fighting Dakota and winning it too. I ran past all of them and headed straight towards the ship. I even thought I saw something suspiciously like the black pegasus of Percy's battling an eagle. I'm getting on board no matter what. What I hadn't foreseen was Octavian along with two other demigods who were single scouts climbing out of the bay of the demolished dock. I tried to run past without getting his attention but his eyes were too sharp for my liking.

"June Loras!" He yelled as he grabbed my arm to prevent me from escaping. "What do you think you are doing? Going over to that side at last?"

"Get off, Octavian!" I growled, struggling. But his grip was surprisingly strong for an arm so skinny.

"So you are a spy!" Octavian hissed, his eyes glinting triumphantly.

I gave up. There was no need to pretend anymore. "I'm not a spy but I am planning to abandon my post. I'm leaving Camp Jupiter."

"And you think I'm just going to let you do that?" Octavian sneered. "Your actions have violated many of our camp rules and you are going to pay for it."

Pulling out my dagger, I pointed it at Octavian and threatened with the most menacing face I could manage. "Let go or you'll taste my blade."

"You're not going to do that, Loras."

"Oh yeah?" I raised my eyebrows. "You want me prove you wrong?"

After a moment of tension, Octavian let go and jumped immediately behind the other two Romans. "Get her!" My coward of a relative yelled.

I was about to give a speech of persuasion but suddenly the air and water around us changed. I looked towards the ship and saw Percy and Jason standing together, brewing up a storm. I also saw that all the crew where on board and the ship was already starting to leave.

Octavian realized his mistake at once and started to frantically urge the Romans gathered to stop them.

"Leo! Percy!" I called, hoping one of them would hear me and help me get on board but the storm was growing huger and huger. My voice was lost in the wind and rain. And it was getting harder to stand stably. As ArgoⅡ rose into the air and unmistakably wasn't going to come get me, I turned my back towards the sea and ran in a random direction—as long as it took me away from the Romans.

My legs kept pumping as eagles screeched, people screamed and storm raged behind me. I didn't dare stop, hoping to put a large as possible distance between me and the Romans before they get themselves out of the storm. The eagles could find me easily, especially Copper, who was accustomed to my scent already so I knew I had to find a way to get to New York quickly and inconspicuously. I was almost on the verge of Fort Sumter when I saw a familiar black figure standing near a crumbled wall, contently savoring the grass around it.

"You!" I cried as I saw hope, racing up to the black pegasus. I knew I had seen him in the midst of the fighting. The horse snorted at me loftily and shook his sleek mane, as if trying to show off how unharmed he was after winning a battle.

"I know, I know, you're the best." I patted him appraisingly. He trotted in satisfaction. I decided to give my plan a shot. "So, I'm in some sort of trouble right now. Like, really serious trouble…do you think you can give me a ride?"

The pegasus neighed indignantly…so that's a 'no'.

"I know probably you don't like letting people other than Percy ride you, but this is an emergency. If you don't help me…I don't know what would become of me." I pleaded, giving him my best puppy eyes.

He swished his tail and rustled his wings for a while. Finally he nudged my hand and looked at me with smart black eyes that were saying, just this once, punk.

I promised myself to reward the pegasus with sugar cubes as soon as we reach my destination and climbed onto his back. The winged horse cantered to a wider space and spread its gorgeous black wings. With one powerful stroke, he flew into the azure sky.

I clung tightly on his mane and yelled: "Take me to Camp Half-blood!"

The pegasus snorted reproachfully.

"Please, oh mighty one." I added quickly. He nodded in satisfaction and sped up. A giddy, wobbly feeling filled my stomach and I wondered what it was until I suddenly burst into laughter. It was the feeling of relief, anticipation, excitement, hopefulness…a mixture of feelings I hadn't felt for a long time. Now, I was flying on a wonderful pure black pegasus under a bright sun in the clear blue sky and over the west coastline of America. And I was heading towards Camp Half-blood, where I really belonged. What else can a daughter of Apollo want?

xxx

Riding the pegasus was a lot more comfortable than being dangled along by an eagle. The black horse glided through the sky so smoothly that I didn't even need to hold onto anything. We flew on and on until night fell, when the pegasus insisted on descending into a city for donuts and a nap. Though we slept a bit more than I would like, as anxious as I was to get to New York, I wasn't going to complain. The horse was already doing me a great favor and he needed his rest. And, I didn't think he would take me complaining or instructing him around nicely.

The next morning, the gods blessed me with another cloudless sunny day. I guess they must be trying to make up for all the misfortunes I had gone through the past few weeks. Before I knew it, I had the familiar view of New York City in my eyes. Skyscrapers reflected the sun, cars horned and blared in the traffic, the sound of more than a billion citizens bustling in their either ordinary or extraordinary lives—I was finally back in my city. The pegasus kept on flying until he took me to Long Island, and descended down…right in front of a scaly serpent writhing around a large pine tree with a golden fleece hanging on its branches.

"Wow. This is Thalia's tree, right?" I wondered out loud, trying to associate the tree with the dark haired hunter.

I slid off the pegasus and stood hesitating at the entrance of Camp Half-blood. I've been dreaming of being where I was now for so long, but now that my feet refused to move. I stood on the spot, staring down at the beautiful valley of Camp Half-blood, mind completely blank.

Suddenly, the pegasus butted me with his head and neighed. What are you waiting for? He shook his midnight black mane and took off, flying into the valley. I smiled and ran after him.

I was an idiot. The second I ran down into the grounds of Camp Half-blood, a dozen of campers in the same orange T-shirt dropped whatever activity they were doing and surrounded me, weapons at hand—my purple Camp Jupiter shirt and golden armor and weapons were screaming Rome.

"Roman!" Someone yelled, "What do you want? If this is…"

I raised my hand and replied quickly: "Wait! I'm not Roman! I mean, I did come from Camp Jupiter…"

"Ah! You are a spy!"

"No!" Why am I always regarded as a spy? "I'm Greek! I just escaped the Romans…"

Before I could finish my explanation, a tall blond boy with a pointed nose pushed through the crowd and said in confusion: "July?"

I pounced on him immediately: "You know July? Where is she?"

But he just stared at me: "You're…not July?" All the others stared at him.

"No. I'm her sister." I said quickly. "What about Landyn Green? Where is he?"

An Asian girl with perfect make-up who was standing by watching eyed me suspiciously: "He's not around. On a task with the new girl. You do look exactly like her. But if you're twins, why didn't you come to Camp with her?"

The blond guy took my arm before I could answer and pulled me towards the big blue house nearby: "Explain to Chiron. He'll know what to make of you. I'm Will Solace, counselor of Apollo's cabin, which is July's cabin, by the way."

xxx

Chiron looked as if he had seen a ghost when he saw me. But he didn't say much except to let me explain how I got here.

"So…you got transported to Camp Jupiter instead of Camp Half-blood and stayed there pretending to be a new Roman recruit?" Chiron asked after I was finished.

I nodded: "Yeah. My Dad visited me in my dreams and warned me not to expose my identity."

The wise centaur raised an eyebrow: "Well, that's unexpected. Apollo is seldom so considerate. You're lucky to have met Blackjack."

"Blackjack?"

"Percy's pegasus. It's also a wonder that Blackjack would be willing to take you back here…he usually never allows anybody except for Percy or Annabeth to ride him." Chiron smiled.

I asked: "I've heard July and Landyn went on a task. So, they're not back yet?"

"No. But they should be back soon." Chiron said. "Actually, they contacted me just earlier this morning. They've finished their task already and I have asked them to return immediately. Meanwhile, Will can take you around camp."

"Thanks!" I could barely hide my excitement. Everything was fine and I was going to see July and Landyn soon! I hopped up from my seat and managed not to skip out of the Big House.

Will Solace was extremely interested my story, especially about my experiences in the Roman camp, but since Chiron advised me not to say much about Camp Jupiter, I skirted around his inquires and said the Romans didn't really let me know much because they suspected me too. After a fantastic tour I got to the cabin and Will returned to his usual activities.

Cabin 5, Apollo's cabin, was exactly as what I'd seen in the dream I had the day before Cohort Five set out to track ArgoⅡ. Wide large windows, spacey, cluttered with bows, arrows and musical instruments, I couldn't imagine it as anything else except for a place where children of Apollo lived. The cabin was empty—I guess everyone was at their morning activities. As Will didn't have time to prepare mine yet, I made my way towards the bunk bed I remembered that was July's. The bed was made and the bedside table tidied—she hadn't slept in here for some time. Slowly, I took off the Roman armor Susan bought for me. Then I removed my gold gladius and dagger, which turned out hadn't been used even once. At last, my hand slipped to my thigh and pulled out a battered bronze gun that was strapped there. It was a Smith and Wesson Model 686 revolver "The President", Landyn had told me. His face shining with excitement and happiness when he said that appeared clearly in my mind. Now, I can finally give it back to him.

Just as I was rummaging through July's drawers to see if there was any clothes I can change into, someone came knocking on the door. And it sounded urgent. I hurried over and opened the door. Outside stood a guy with ridiculously curly brown hair and….wait, horns? I gapped at him.

"Could you please not stare at me?" He complained, "I'm a satyr."

I shut my mouth that was hanging open, and my eyes moved away from his horns…only to get stuck on his furry goat legs.

"Oh, come on!" He groaned. "Get used to it!"

I burst into laughing and looked away with difficulty: "I'm sorry! It's just that…I've never been so close to a satyr before. So why are you here?"

"I'm Grover. Landyn and July rescued me from Polyphemus. They were supposed to come back to camp with me but…" The satyr turned serious and lowered his voice. "…they are looking for you, June."

"What?" I asked, not certain about what I've heard.

Grover looked furtively behind him to see if anyone was eavesdropping. "I mean, I had detected the Romans here in New York and Landyn and July went looking for them…because they thought you would be with the Romans."

"WHAT?" I said again.

"Chiron forbade them but they disobeyed. I've already told Chiron they are not here with me because they went to visit their families." Grover continued, "I think Chiron suspects, but he didn't say anything."

My head was spinning. "Then…then what should I do now? The Romans will…I don't know, imprison them!"

"Calm down, June." Grover said quickly, "I don't know if they've found the Romans yet. Besides, they can take care of themselves. I'm sure they won't let the Romans get them! We just need to find them and tell them you're here."

"Oh right!" I said, sheepish at my panicky. "So we just need to Iris Message them right? I don't know how to do it, so can you teach me…"

Grover interrupted with a regretful expression. "I tried already. But I couldn't get connection. Maybe Iris is on vacation. It happens sometimes. I think you need to go find them."

I clenched my fists. I'm not going to be beaten after all this. "Fine. I'll just say I want to visit Mom too and find them."

Grover nodded. "Yeah, that's a great idea. Anyway, I think they are somewhere in Manhattan, since, according to my last tracking spell, the Romans are supposed to be there."

From all the time I stayed with the Romans, I knew they must have a camping site where they could organize the troops and plan strategies. There were three Cohorts that headed here, minus Cohort Five who went after the ArgoⅡ and Cohort Four who stayed in New Rome to secure the city. That was a lot of people. The gears in my mind whirred.

"They must be in Central Park!" I cried out. I ignored Grover's questioning look and ran to find Chiron.

Luckily the old centaur didn't object and even offered to let Argo drive me home as soon as lunch was over. I accepted gratefully. After all, I did want to see Mom badly—I haven't seen her for weeks! She must be worried sick!

Argo was a fast driver (let's try to ignore the fact that he had eyes all over his body) but by the time he stopped in front of my house, the sun had set. I thanked him quickly and rushed up the door. With trembling fingers, I pushed the door bell. I know I should be getting to Central Park immediately, but I wanted to see Mom so bad.

Seconds later, the door creaked open. Mom stood in front of me, her hair in a careless bun, wearing her old apron.

"June?" Mom said, eyes wide. I threw myself at her and hugged her tightly. A familiar scent of paint and coffee and butter surrounded me. I was so glad to be in her arms again.

Mom eased me into the house and closed the door. Her hand smoothing my hair was warm and gentle. "I didn't know you were coming home today! What's the matter, June?"

"Nothing." My voice was muffled . "I've missed you so much."

Mom laughed. "So have I, baby. I was pretty disappointed when you didn't come with July."

"July was here?" I asked in surprise.

"A few days ago. Didn't she tell you? She told me you couldn't come because you were having Ancient Greek class." Mom said, "She brought back a guy too. Is he her boyfriend, that Landyn Green?"

"Um, of course. I forgot." I said, deciding to play along. "And…no, Landyn is not her boyfriend." For some reason, I just couldn't imagine that.

Mom didn't ask any more, apart from demanding why I had come in such dirty clothes and why my hair became like this. I had to tell her my hair got tangled into an electric fan so I had no choice but to cut it. She muttered about what a pity it was and went busy preparing me a delicious dinner. I ended up in my old bed at night, trying to sleep while knowing time to find July and Landyn was ticking by.

The next morning I got up early and after a fantastic breakfast of cheese omelets, I changed back into my Camp Jupiter clothes and set off to Central Park. In case I have to face the Romans, it would be better I looked Roman…who knows how fast word of my 'betrayal' would reach the troops here.

Ok, I confess…I got lost again. I took the wrong train for about four times before I finally got to Central Park. I ran into the park, having no idea how to find my sister and that idiot son of Aphrodite in such a large area. Suddenly, I hear a huge screech. I looked in search of the source and I gasped. A huge black dragon glinted in the distance, thrashing around as if fight something. The tourists around me frowned and looked towards it reproachfully the way one would glare at an especially noisy construction site. There must be demigods there. Keeping my eyes trained on the dragon, I broke off into a sprint.

The park was a lot larger than I expected. As I ran and ran, I could see the dragon was fighting viciously until at one point it made the mistake of raising its head in pursuance of something flying in the air near it and got shot by dozens of arrows in the neck. I poured on speed and navigated through clusters of mortals towards it.

Suddenly, I stopped short. I was in plain sight of the Roman campsite now, which flickered under the mist as a fenced area of tree saplings to keep mortals out. Two teenagers were running away from it…right at me. One was a guy with tousled brown hair, looking behind his shoulder at the falling dragon. The other was a girl with a long slivery blond ponytail.

The girl met my eyes, jerking to a stop. Twin sets of light blue eyes mirrored each other. She was stricken obviously, flinging out an arm to stop the boy. The boy turned in question.

July and Landyn stood feet away, looking at me with shocked expressions.

Emotion built up in my chest but I couldn't seem to move. While my insides were churning, on the outside, unfortunately, I probably looked in a daze.

"JUNE!" They both screamed and rushed towards me. They barreled into me and wrapped me into a three-people group hug.

"You stupid! How could you get it wrong? If you'd used your brain, you wouldn't get sent to Camp Jupiter!" July yelled, her voice cracking. She buried her face into my shoulder and sobbed.

Landyn hugged me tight and mumbled: "I can't believe you're here."

I unfroze at last. "I'm back, guys."

Phew! That was one L-O-N-G chapter…5790 words (not including A/N). What do you think about it? Since this is already the last full chapter I would write in Percy Jackson fanfiction, please give me some last reviews! At least let me know my work was worth something!

-Amber-